Originally Posted by
Doors Off
The ATSB thanks you for your thorough and complete accident investigation.
You may be correct or, perhaps you don't have all the facts and there are other factors that were key in facilitating such a horrible accident.
The full investigation will undoubtedly reveal many factors, some contributory and some not. I am now at the point of almost losing count of the untimely deaths of my friends and fellow pilots and the most depressing fact is most of their accidents were mostly predictable and avoidable*. There are only a few variations on the way we meet unfortunate ends for ourselves and others while flying aircraft, and even when the most detailed and probing accident investigation reveals a long list list of contributory factors, accidents usually need some fundamental error, omission or breach to trigger the chain reaction that has lined up behind it. Speculating on the primary cause of the accident may seem ghoulish to some, but it can provide useful safety prompts for others who do this for a living. Accidents have no respect for experience, total hours or friendships. When the full report is published, many on here will have rely on long term memory to recall any of these details.
* The obvious exception being a Tie-Bar Failure leading to MR blade separation at 2,000'.